Looking for Pet-Friendly Rentals? No Region Has More Than the Bay Area.

Looking for Pet-Friendly Rentals? No Region Has More Than the Bay Area.

You are in the process of selling your home and thinking of taking a rental unit for a few months while you negotiate your next home purchase. But what about your pets? Will you be able to find an apartment where your your dogs and cats will be welcome?

In fact, San Francisco ranks No. 1 among all major cities for accommodating pets, and Oakland is No. 4. (By extension — and personal experience — we would guess that the rest of the Bay Area would be similarly pet-friendly.)

San Francisco and Oakland are also notable for very low pet expenses. Refundable pet deposits average $57 in San Francisco and $146 in Oakland; nonrefundable pet fees average $7 and $17, respectively; and monthly pet rents average $1 in both cities. Compare those prices with Washington, D.C., where pet deposits average $366, pet fees average $427, and pet rents average $44 per month.

When it comes to pet stores, veterinarians, and other pet services, only San Diego tops San Francisco in the ratio of pet services to city residents, 1:817. In San Francisco the ratio is 1:848, and in Oakland it is 1:978. (In Los Angeles the ratio is 1:1,157.) Plenty of opportunities for pet pampering.

“Overall,” Trulia concluded, “San Francisco and the rest of the West are paw-some, offering plenty of pet-friendly rentals, low fees, and lots of opportunities to buy stuff for your four-legged friend.”